What to do when workplace smells strongly of marijuana and management hasn't done anything to mitigate?

Question

I work in a decent company with good people in California (marijuana is legal). In one of the office buildings we rent, there are two marijuana-related companies. One of them is right next door to us and the smell goes through the shared roof space (where the ductwork and electrical is routed) and enters our office. Disclaimer: My company is not the other marijuana-related company :P

I don't know what the legal aspects of this are, but management has been notified and hasn't done anything about it over the course of my tenure here (appx 1 yr). They work in a different building where the smell doesn't reach.

It really reeks of marijuana every day at work and I'm concerned about the health consequences it might have (there are two papers published so far (that I'm aware of) mechanistically linking first-hand exposure to psychosis and schizophrenia, among other things, but not the place to discuss that here). What can be done to convince management to contact the building managers and properly separate the shared roof space (or whatever else might be the problem)?

• Is it legal for the company to produce this smell that bothers other tenants in a commercial property?
• Is my company responsible for any mitigation?
• Is the landlord responsible?

EDIT -

The company next door does extractions from the marijuana plant. I'm not sure if the smell contains CBD or THC. If I were to venture a guess, I would say yes because the smell has different tinges to it day-to-day depending on what they are extracting with. ie it can be coffee+marijuana smell one morning and chocolatey marijuana the next. No joke, we've had a cocoa-puffs+marijuana smell once too. If that stuff is getting out then I'm pretty sure that their extraction process is not scrubbing air properly.

Answer 1

It really reeks of marijuana every day at work and I'm concerned about the health consequences it might have

It's important to differentiate between the smoke and the natural smell of the plant.

The smoke is the one that has the "high" effect, and also the one that contains the chemicals known to produce such high (CBD, THC, whatever else it has).

Now, the natural smell of the plant is harmless. It's like, say, the smell of a rose or lavender. It's because the aromatic chemicals the plant (and any thing in general) has, that stimulate the nose and produce the smell. But they don't contain THC nor CBD (that is, you can't get high by smelling the plant without burning).

Another example would be tobacco. Raw tobacco has a particular smell (also harmless), but burnt tobacco has quite a different one (and is in fact where the harmful chemicals are released).

---

So. If it is smoke, and they are smoking on the office next door, then that would be a valid complaint, as I am sure smoking inside building is not allowed in most countries I know, even less in office buildings.

But if it's just the "natural" smell of the raw plant then that is harmless and perhaps not a valid point for a complaint. If that is the case, consider getting a diffuser scent machine or similar (like those applied in bathrooms) to counteract the smell of the plant.

Anyways, if this is bothering you and your coworkers I say it's ok if you tell your manager about this and ask them what can be done in this situation.

Another thing is that, perhaps, this is not the right office building for your company to be, and you could do better somewhere else (perhaps an office building focused on tech, or whatever your field is). This, however, may be something that is out of your hands to achieve.

Answer 2

Unless the offices next to your office are "hot-boxing" their offices, I can nearly guarantee that you are not getting any contact with THC or CBD.

These chemicals are only present in the air when the plant material is heated to the point of where THC becomes THC-A (activated THC that gives the effects) or if concentrations are heated to the point of vaporization. However, I can totally understand disliking the smell as it can be extremely pungent. I would suggest bringing it up to management along with any of the other resources provided by the other answers on this post (laws/regulations they may be breaking).

Make sure your concerns are well-founded and well-researched. If you went in and incorrectly stated you were getting THC and CBD from the smells, they might discredit the rest of what you have to say.

There should absolutely be some sort of way to filter the smell out at least somewhat. Whether that's adding increased air filtering in the AC system, creating more of a physical barrier in that shared roof space, or some other type of filtration.

Answer 3

This happened to me at a facility I worked for concerning Vaping of staff and visitors who came in the building.

The problem was that the management smoked them too.

I went to HR stating that vaping, just like smoking indoors should be considered the same type of violation. I also stated that I personally should not be subject with these chemicals swarming around everywhere not only for unknown hazards as Vaping is not long studied, but also the fact that the different flavors of the vape juice gave me bad migraines.

Both of the above reasons should make the action of vaping indoors illegal if only for the health concerns of the non vaping individuals.

My HR was smart and saw potential legal problems if they didn’t put a stop to vaping inside so it was banned from the offices.

I would assume you could go above management as well and bring it up in a similar way about marijuana.